Cooling towers have traditionally been used to reduce the temperature of fluids and air that flow through a building. Traditional methods for cooling fluids that will ultimately cool the building interior use a transfer of heat between air and a fluid, and result in a coolant temperature reduction of approximately 7-8°. The air is then released to the atmosphere, and the cooled fluid is then used to cool the building. This cooling is often done by cooling the interior air.
Although some electrical devices, such as computers and computer networks, use the temperature of surrounding air to aid in cooling, other devices use direct contact between a cooling fluid and the components to efficiently reduce the heat. With the direct contact between the cooling fluid and the heated components, the cooling fluid is able to remove a greater amount of heat, as minimal cooling is lost to the air.
The level of cooling provided by the cooling fluid greatly affects the efficiency of these systems. Outside air temperature is a gauge to determine how much cooling fluid can be produced. As the coolant is cooled by air flowing through the cooling system, the transfer of heat from coolant to the air is limited both by the temperature of coolant as compared to the air and the chemical characteristics of the coolant.
Refrigerant is often used in systems that require the cooling of an internal space. Traditionally refrigerant gas has been used as a coolant in cooling towers to transfer heat between the fluid flowing through the building interior and air. The gaseous nature of the coolant may increase the amount of heat that the coolant absorbs, however a refrigerant gas is also limited in how much it can be cooled, some cooling effect of the air will be lost in the heat exchanging medium. Furthermore, the use of refrigerant increases the costs of installing and maintaining these cooling systems.
Accordingly what is needed is a system and method for cooling fluid that flows through interior spaces in a variety of climates.